‘It was always the Dekker Centre’: local big band singer set for first hometown concert

“I kind of went away from that just knowing for sure that performing was something I wanted to do,” he said. “The showmanship was great.”

Now, years later, the 22-year-old is returning to the very stage that first sparked those ambitions – this time alongside his band, The Itsy Bitsy Big Band, not as a spectator, but as the headliner.

“It certainly is a full circle moment,” he said. “Growing up, it was always the Dekker Centre. That was the venue I wanted to be in. That was kind of the venue that I dreamed of performing in.”

Keegan Issac poses on stage with his band, the Itsy Bitsy Big Band, and vocal trio The Petit-Tones – consisting of Emma Gillingham, Sanjana Brijlall and Paulina Salisbury – following a recent performance at Saskatoon’s Broadway Theatre. (Image Credit: Photo by Jeremy LeClair, submitted by Keegan Issac)

For many young artists, success is often measured by how far they can leave home behind. But for Issac, whose career has already carried him onto stages across Saskatchewan, coming back to North Battleford may matter most.

Issac has already appeared twice on TeleMiracle, held his first concert at Saskatoon’s Broadway Theatre and performed on the main stage at the SaskTel Saskatchewan Jazz Festival.

The upcoming concert takes place June 5 at 7:30 p.m., with tickets available through the Dekker Centre’s website.

“It’s definitely a great feeling of homecoming,” he said.

That sense of prairie identity runs through nearly every part of the performance for his band.

The concert will feature big band arrangements, doo-wop classics and reimagined pop songs inspired by the sounds of the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s, alongside special guests The Petite Tones. But woven between the swing standards and crooner melodies is something more personal: Saskatchewan itself.

Over the years, Issac’s band has developed a tradition of rewriting famous songs to reflect the communities where they perform.

“When we played in Saskatoon, we changed I Left My Heart in San Francisco and we changed it to I Left My Heart in Saskatoon,” he said, adding the band also rewrote the Frank Sinatra classic My Kind of Town into My Kind of Town, Meota during a concert in the community.

This time, North Battleford will receive its own musical tribute.

“We have a really popular song that everybody’s going to know that we’ve changed the lyrics to fit North Battleford,” he said.

“I think it’s really special when the music and the lyrics that we sing reflect our local geography and reflect where we’re from and reflect our culture as people from Saskatchewan.”

Keegan Issac poses with vocal trio The Petit-Tones members Emma Gillingham, left, Paulina Salisbury, and Sanjana Brijlall. (Image Credit: Photo by Jeremy LeClair, submitted by Keegan Issac)

The connection to the community extends beyond lyrics.

Issac said members of the band have deep ties to North Battleford, while the group itself has helped raise more than $20,000 for local schools and Battlefords Union Hospital through fundraising performances.

For him, the concert is not simply about revisiting old music. It is about preserving a style of entertainment he worries younger audiences rarely experience firsthand anymore.

Part of that mission involves making big band music feel welcoming instead of distant or formal.

“I try to really be an entertainer and try to make people laugh as much as I can,” he said. “It’s one thing to put on a concert where you perform the music, and then it’s another thing to put on a show where it’s just one big experience.”

Between songs, audiences can expect jokes, crowd interaction and playful gags woven into the performance. One recurring bit invites audience members to spell out the letters in the Nat King Cole classic L-O-V-E with their arms from their seats, including what Issac jokingly describes as the “athletic” challenge of forming the letter E.

“I think that’s the one thing that’s maybe most surprising to people – how much we make people laugh,” he said.

The show will also introduce something new: original songs Issac has written himself, newly arranged for big band orchestra.

An album featuring those songs is now in development.

Still, beneath the orchestra arrangements, comedy routines and vintage swing melodies, the centre of the evening remains pretty simple… a hometown musician returning to the place where his dream first began.

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Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com

by Kenneth Cheung

‘It was always the Dekker Centre’: local big band singer set for first hometown concert

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